Optical flow estimation generally provides a mapping between the pixels of two or more images, for example to identify motion of objects in sequential image frames received from a video camera. This can be useful in computer vision and robotics systems. Existing optical flow estimation systems typically employ nearest neighbor searching and coarse-to-fine analysis techniques. These systems, however, can be computationally intensive and can sometimes produce unacceptable results, particularly when there are large displacements (e.g., motion) between image frames, texture-less regions in the images, and/or motion blur.
Although the following Detailed Description will proceed with reference being made to illustrative embodiments, many alternatives, modifications, and variations thereof will be apparent in light of this disclosure.